![]() ![]() By celebrating it, narrating it, andrememberingit, the pastbecomeslivinghistory. As Ellison says about his characters in this novel, "the past is with them and in them" (352). It argues for the necessity to keep the past in the present, through celebration, art, and remembrance. A novel about liberation, Juneteenth explores much more than a day in history. ![]() Callahan, Ellison's literary executor, refers to the central section in which the characters remember their "Juneteenth rambles." "There's been a heap of Juneteenths before this one," Reverend Hickman says to Bliss, "and there'll be a heap more before we're truly free!"1 "Juneteenth" stands for June 19, 1865, the day a Union garrison announced to slaves in Texas that they were free. HISTORY IN RALPH ELLISON'S JUNETEENTH Loretta Johnson Lewis and Clark University Ralph Ellison's second novel, Juneteenth, echoes one ofthe crucial themes of his first-how stories get told, whose stories should be told, and what history is to be believed. ![]() In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: ![]()
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